Student related determinants of the first semester academic status: the case of 2006/7 first year students at some selected faculties of Jimma university

Abstract

The government of Ethiopia has been working aggressively to increase the enrollment rate of students in higher education. However, a significant number of students leave the campus as a result of academic dismissal. This research, therefore, attempted to unfold the magnitude of academic failure and students related factors predicting academic failure in the first semester of 2006/ 07 entries. Six hundred and four participants were selected randomly and responded to a questionnaire. First semester participants’ GPA were also secured from the registrar. The finding indicated that 28 % of the sampled students were dismissed from the university. Out of this, 25.7% were males, and 41.4% were females; the highest rate of dismissal was in Education Faculty (40.4 %) and the lowest rate in Medical Faculty (4.3 %). A forward logistic regression analysis disclosed that students who scored high on measure of external locus of control, test anxiety, self concept , females and older students were more likely to fail while students who scored high on internal locus of control and study for longer hours were less likely to fail. Furthermore, the pattern of these factors on academic failure for the two sexes and faculties were indicated. Promoting students’ awareness about the importance of investing effort in the academic context and enhancing students’ internal locus of causality are some of the recommendations forwarded.